Tipu Sultan and the Tiger Head Pommel

[olikara]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and this is my first post here. Coming from the Mysore region I have an interest in Tipu Sultan and artefacts associated with him.

My question is regarding Tipu's characteristic Tiger Head sword hilt pommel swords and other 'bubris' marked edged weapons. Did Tipu have exclusive rights to using the tiger head and bubris motifs or did he also grant this privelege to others around him?

We know from contemporary sources that his troops were arrayed in clothes with the bubris marks. Similarly did they carry weapons with the tiger motifs too? And if they did so, where are all these weapons today.

We know again that the British captured tens of thousands of weapons after the fall of Seringapatam, yet we today see very few 'Mysore' pieces attributed to Tipu's period in the market.

Why?

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Olikara,
Welcome to the forum, and thank you for posting on such an interesting topic! There have been a number of discussions concerning the weapons of Tipu over the years.

Tipu Sultan Shah Bahadur, although devoutly Muslim, was deeply influenced by the local Hindu cult of the patron martial goddess Chamundeshwari of Mysore, who rode a tiger. Tipu himself noted, "...it is better to live for a day as a tiger, than to live as a sheep for a lifetime", as he became known as the 'Tiger of Mysore'. He used the tiger motif lavishly on his personal items, and it is known his forces had uniforms with the bubri (tiger) stripes, and though certain weaponry such as cannon etc. often carried some degree of that motif, I do not believe the rank and file would have had such decorated weapons. The personal weapons of Tipu of course were afforded the lavish affectations that carried his personally adopted totem.

There are a number of weapons attributed to Tipu, and these are discussed and illustrated in, "Islamic Arms and Armour of Muslim India", Dr. S. Haider, 1991 ; "Indian Arms and Armour" Dr.G.N.Pant, New Delhi, 1980 and probably one of the most important, "Hindu Arms and Ritual", Dr. Robert Elgood , which offers key insight into the symbolism and tradition in the weapons of India within this sphere. Naturally the importance of regalia and items attributed to Tipu became increasingly popular after the famed battle of his defeat at Seringpatam in 1799, and later in the 19th century spurious weaponry was produced for anxious collectors.

While the tiger striping became a royal insignia for Tipu, it was not likely applied to weaponry associated with the armoury at Mysore. The Maharajah of Mysore was under Tipu's suzerainty and actually maintained control of the armoury there. It seems that weapons from that armoury typically are void of that particular motif, as far as I am aware. Therefore, I do not believe that Tipu's personal motif would have been loosely appointed outside regalia used by his own forces in general, with obviously the most decorative to his court and officers.

After the defeat in 1799, most of the best and historical weapons captured were presented as gifts to leading officers and regents, and carried back to England. Many of the remaining sundry pieces ended up in the Tanjore armoury, which was dispersed in 1878. While there were considerable numbers of representative weapons sold off, much of the weaponry was quite literally rusted scrap if I recall some very discouraging reading from some time ago.

If you will use the search feature here you will find some very interesting discussions concerning weapons from Mysore and of Tipu over a number of years. I think you will find them interesting, and most importantly, if possible, get hold of the Elgood book!!

All very best regards,
Jim

[olikara]

Jim,
Many thanks for the information.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Olikara,

Welcome to the forum. It is an interesting question you bring up, and Jim has, as always, done his homework well.

It is true that the English collected lots of weapons and let them rust, till they could not be used for anything. Other weapons were used in the steel production, and when taking only these two ways of destruction, thousands of swords and daggers were destroyed. The British also destroyed about seventeen thousand of adya katars and other weapons after a riot at Coorg, but these weapons were taken out at sea, and thrown overboard. Although there were many different types of weapons, many thousands were destroyed, so to day, we only have ‘a few’ exambles.

Jens

[olikara]

Friends,
Here are some details of the sword Hilt in my possession. I would welcome any new ideas about it's identification, area of origin, etc. I am not much of a photographer and even lesser of an arms collector, so I request you all to bear with me. Here goes...

The hilt seems to be made of brass and is cast in one piece. As can be seen from the photographs it comprises of a tiger's head pommel and a grip for the hand. The inner side of the grip has ribbed double lines across as can be seen in the photographs.

The tiger's head is incised with the typical Tipu bubris incised all over it which extends down to almost one third of the hand grip. The bubris are S shaped and hollow save for a curving line at the centers. The nose of the tiger is dotted and the forehead has the banana plant like bubris pattern with a straight line and 2 bubris on either side. Towards the neck of the tiger is something like a collar (double lined and ribbed).

One end of the knuckle guard is seen leaving the mouth of the tiger at the pommel and reached down to the quillon. There are no bubris to be found on any part of the knuckle guard or the quillon.

We can see one langet only as the other one seems to be broken from what remains of it. There is no design on the langet as well.

I tried looking all over for any inscription but could find none. There is as you can see no blade and I do not know what came of it or how it came to be broken.

Here are the dimensions:

Overall length (pommel-langet) - 14.5 cm.
Lenghth of grip – 7 cm.

Length of knuckle guard – 10 cm.

Length of langet – 3 cm.

Length from quillon end to knuckle guard end – 11 cm.

I picked this piece from the Mysore region of Karnataka, India.

Awaiting all your feedback.

[Jim McDougall]

This hilt is fascinating as it clearly carries the tiger motif favored by Tipu as his personal totem, however the elements of the form such as the knucklebow, quillons and langet are distinctly of the British M1796 light cavalry sabre. While the British sabres of this pattern were considered one of the first 'regulation' pattern swords for Great Britain, officers were granted a great deal of license in customizing thier own hilts.

During the campaigns in Egypt at the beginning of the Napoleonic period, British officers were profoundly impressed by the warriors known as the Mamluks and thier flamboyant costume and especially the deadly Ottoman hilted sabres. Both they, and the French, adopted the design of these sabres into their own sabres, which eventually became the popular dress sword for officers termed the 'mameluke'. In addition to this, British officers sometimes added certain motif to existing sword hilt styles, creating a manner of hybrid and personalized form which pronounced that officers involvement in key military campaigns. I once owned a British M1803 infantry officers sabre which had the familiar lionhead pommel hilt, but instead of the flowing mane it had added a distinct sphinx headdress, clearly coming from the British campaigns in Egypt. While this practice was not prevalent, it was of course practiced in degree.

It is my opinion that this sabre hilt is one of those examples, probably commissioned by a British officer who saw service in the campaign at Seringpatam in 1799 with the defeat of Tipu Sultan. It seems quite plausible that this hilt was fashioned in the same manner as the M1803 I have described, using as the basis, the new pattern M1796 cavalry sabre.
What is unclear is whether the hilt was produced in India by local outfitters during occupation in years immediately after the famed battle or in England by one of the growing number of weapons contractors outfitting troops.

It is interesting that in India at that time, the British forces were those of the Crown in some degree, but primarily those of the British East India Co. It would seem that if done for an officer of the East India Co. thier device might be found somewhere in the design (while possibly only on the blade, now absent). It is interesting to note that soon after this period, the symbol of the EIC became the rampant lion replacing the quadranted heart with initials.The lionhead pommel did appear on some EIC sabres of this period.

It would be interesting to hear opinions or thoughts on this most interesting hilt. It has been my impression that Tipu would not have used a British hilt design for a sword made in his armouries (he and the British were of course not close, so probably was not of Tipu's reign. While the use of European blades and material was well established with Tipu's father Haider Ali who used German mercenaries, and swords are known carrying European design, this hilt in my opinion is of British form, so would not be from Tipu's armouries.

Thoughts, observations?

All best regards,
Jim

[olikara]

Forgive me for my ignorance.

But, what would have been the purpose of the feature(looks like 2 parallel lines/notches) on the knuckleguard-quillon that I have circled in the photograph attached below?